Obama Bests Romney In Facebook Mentions During Both Conventions

Mentions of President Barack Obama on Facebook bested those of Republican challenger Mitt Romney by almost a two-to-one margin during the two weeks of the presidential nominating conventions that come to a close Thursday night.

The data on the most-mentioned moments during the conventions — in the Facebook era of presidential politics — come just as Obama is set to accept his party’s nomination for a second time at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C.

Facebook cited the speeches by first lady Michelle Obama and keynote speaker and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro on the first night of the convention as the key moments that drove the president’s mentions to increase by 745 percent from the baseline mentions he received in previous hours.

It’s worth noting that the data were released before former President Bill Clinton‘s rousing nominating speech Wednesday night.

Romney’s acceptance of his party’s presidential nomination ranks as the second-most-mentioned moment of the conventions. His speech Thursday, Aug. 30, led to a mention count on Facebook that was the second-highest across conventions to date, with a baseline increase of 422 percent from mentions in previous hours.

Among the other most-mentioned events from the past two weeks of presidential nominating conventions:

Michelle Obama’s speech Tuesday night resulted in a 5,400 percent bump in Facebook mentions as compared with the baseline established in the hours leading up to her emotional address, which ranks third among most mentioned events of the conventions.

Eastwooding: Clint Eastwood‘s buzzed-about speech to an empty chair on the final night of the GOP convention resulted in a baseline increase of 8,900 percent. The actor was a surprise guest and, therefore, there weren’t as many mentions on Facebook ahead of his now-infamous speech that put him fourth among most-mentioned events of the 2012 conventions.

Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan‘s red-meat-laden speech Wednesday, Aug, 29, ranks as the fifth-most-mentioned moment from the conventions. There was a 2,280 percent increase over the amounts of mentions in previous hours.

Readers: What do you think of these numbers? Did you take to Facebook during any of these moments of the 2012 conventions?

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